Don't own anything Naruto. Just writing for fun.

Thank you to everyone that has reviewed my story. Here is the next update. Sorry that it took me so long. It's been kind of crazy recently, but hopefully now I should be able to update more again. Please review though, it helps to get me motivated to write the chapters faster.

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Chapter 4

Iruka didn't know where he was going. All he knew was that he had to get away. Kakashi had lied to him. He was so naive to believe a complete stranger. How could he have been so trusting? What was he thinking? He couldn't believe Kakashi was a dragon, and didn't even bother to tell him. He thought that they were becoming friends. "I didn't even know they still existed." thought Iruka

Overwhelmed, Iruka stopped and lowered his head into his hands. "I had finally thought I found someone to be friends with. Someone that I could actually trust, but I was wrong. He lied to me like everyone else did." he thought as he stopped, just standing in the middle of the forest. "What am I going to do." mumbled Iruka as he dropped down to his knees and began to cry. He felt betrayed. Lifting his head up in the air, tears staining his cheeks, he screamed "Why does this always happen to me? Why doesn't anyone want to be my friend?" hearing it echo throughout the forest.

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Kakashi had stood there, desperately hoping the tan man would come out of the forest and forgive him for not telling him that he was truly a dragon. But that was only a hopeless dream. He knew once Iruka had found out about his true identity that he wouldn't want to have anything to do with him. He had just hoped that maybe this would be the time that he wouldn't be left alone again.

Kakashi was now laying down in his cave, looking out over the forest. He had messed up, and lost the one person that had somehow weaseled his way into his heart. If only he had told him the truth to begin with, then maybe he would have stayed with him. "No, that would have only made him leave sooner. To him, I'm just a monster." thought Kakashi. Kakashi had longed to find some kind of happiness. He now lived in a world with humans, and everyone that he had met was afraid to be around him.

"I wonder if he's already left the forest." thought Kakashi "He deserves happiness and someone to care about him." curling up to go to sleep, hoping that he would wake up and this was all just a dream and that Iruka would still be by his side.

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After sitting there in his own self pity for awhile, Iruka stood up, wiped the tears from his face as he started to walk back towards the lake, as he tried to figure out where he should go, knowing that was the only place that he felt at peace. Once reaching the lake, he noticed a rock a few feet out in the water. Iruka decided to take off his clothes, except for his shorts and swim out to the rock and try and clear his mind. Climbing up on it, he stretched out and leaned back on his arms as he thought about every thing that has happened the past couple of days. He was worried about the other children back in the orphanage and hoped that they were alright. Leaving it was the best thing he could have ever done. He was tired of being abused and told that he worthless. He had thought he had found someone like him when he met Kakashi.

Hearing a big splash, Iruka sat up straight only to come face to face with the sea serpent he met earlier. Fear started to settle in as he waited to see what the sea serpent would do, but put a hand over his eyes when it smiled brightly down at him.

"Ah, my young Iruka, what are you doing here all alone on this wonderful evening?" asked Gai, giving him a bright smile.

"Thinking" grumbled Iruka, really not wanting to listen to the weird sea serpent rambling on about beautiful days and whatever. "Really how could someone always be so happy." thought Iruka

"Ah, I see. It is a beautiful night to reminisce." spouted Gai as he smiled his bright smile.

"Yeah" mumbled Iruka, as he started to get angry at the nosy sea serpent not knowing when to leave well enough alone. "Really I think with that smile, you could find him in the dark a mile away." growled Iruka as he thought to himself.

"And may my eternal rival be waiting for your return?" asked Gai

"Um, no" replied Iruka, looking out over the lake. Not really wanting to say anything else about the dragon.

Sensing that something wasn't right, Gai asked in a more serious tone "Did something happen to that old dragon?"

"I wouldn't know." replied Iruka, avoiding eye contact with the weird sea serpent.

"But wasn't you with my eternal rival earlier?" asked Gai, confusion clearly showing on his scaly face.

"Yes, but we went our separate ways?" replied Iruka

"Why? Did something happen?" asked Gai, starting to really worry that something bad had happened.

Narrowing his eyes and looking up at the unusual sea serpent, Iruka growled "Not that it's any of your business, but he lied to me and I don't want anything to do with him."

His eyes going wide, Gai replied "That is not like my eternal rival to lie. May I ask what it was that he lied to you about?"

"Ugh, can't he take a hint." thought Iruka. Really feeling annoyed with all the questions, Iruka rubbed his forehead as he sighed "He didn't tell me he was a dragon."

"Oh" was Gai's only reply.

"OH, OH is all you can say. I thought he wanted to be my friend. Why would he not tell me something that important, unless he had planned to do something to me." yelled Iruka

Now completely serious, Gai replied "Kakashi would do no such thing. He would never mean to hurt you. He has always been alone for as long as I've known him, but he would never let anyone get close to him. That's why I was surprised to see you with him earlier."

"Why wouldn't he want to have any friends?" asked Iruka

"I am afraid I do not know all the details, but I do know this. It's not that he doesn't want any friends, but be can't. He has had a rough past. He use to have a couple close friends, but they were killed. He will not even let me get to close, and I've known him for a long time. I guess we're more acquaintances than anything." replied Gai

"Does this have something to do with that griffin?" asked Iruka

Shocked, his eyes shot wide open as Gai gasped "You've met Mikio?"

"Yes, he's attacked us twice now." replied Iruka

Gai sadly looked down at the water as he said "I see"

"What's wrong? What aren't you telling me?" asked Iruka

"The reason why Kakashi doesn't have any friends is because of Mikio. Mikio blames him for some….some things that happened long ago." replied Gai, still not making eye contact.

"What did Kakashi do?" asked Iruka, but then shook his head. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked that. That was very rude of me."

"It's alright, but I don't think it's my place to tell you what happened. I will say this though, it wasn't Kakashi's fault. Mikio was the one that started it all." growled Gai as he looked up at the tan man. "After everything that he has been through, Kakashi deserves someone to care about him. And I think if given the chance, you could be that person."

Looking down at the rock that he was sitting on, Iruka mumbled "I was wrong about him, wasn't I?" looking back up at the weird sea serpent.

Smiling at the young man, Gai replied "Why don't you go talk to him for yourself, and you be the judge of that. I'm going to take my leave now, but just remember one thing Iruka, don't judge a book by it's cover. Beauty is not just skin deep." swimming off into the lake once again.

"Thank you" yelled Iruka, making the sea serpent turn his head. Smiling, Gai nodded his head before diving beneath the water.

Iruka sat on the rock, running the conversation he had with the sea serpent over and over in his head. Kakashi was lonely, he did gather that much from Gai, but he was just afraid to make any friends. So why did he try and be friends with him. Was that the reason he stayed in his human form, for fear that the griffin would discover him. It's weird, but even though Iruka knew Kakashi was a dragon, he didn't like him any less. He would still consider him a friend. "Is that why he didn't tell me he was a dragon. He was afraid that I wouldn't stay here with him. But in the end, he was right. I did run away."

Realizing that he was also lonely without the dragon and had gotten used to Kakashi, and that Kakashi had only showed him kindness, Iruka decided to go look for the dragon that had unknowingly wormed his way into his heart. Standing up he jumped into the water, and swam to shore. Once reaching the shore, Iruka redressed then headed back into the woods as he tried to remember the way up the mountain to the dragon's lair. It didn't help either that it was getting dark outside. The sun had already set for the night, and it was getting darker by the minute in the dense forest. "I have to get to that lair." said Iruka, as he weaved around all the tall trees and bushes. In a hurry to get to the cave, Iruka pushed the branches out of his way as he sprinted up the steep mountain. Releasing a big branch he was holding on to as he started to move another one out of his way, Iruka thought he was out of harms way until he looked up as he saw the branch coming towards him. He wasn't able to dodge quickly enough as the branch swung back, hitting him in the chest sending him flying through the air, crashing into a tree behind him knocking the wind out of him. "Ugh" groaned Iruka, holding his hand on his chest. Once getting his air back, Iruka slowly crawled to his knees, and braced himself on the large tree, as he inched his way up the tree until he was standing. Looking up the mountain he sighed as he pushed himself from the tree, but fell to the ground again as he started to cough. Iruka braced himself with one hand on the forest floor as he tried to stop the coughing. Finally getting his coughing under control, Iruka grabbed his chest as he pulled himself up again. "Ugh, that hurt." thought Iruka. Trying to push the pain to the back of his mind, Iruka slowly started to walk up the mountain again wincing when a sharp pain shot through his chest. Grabbing his chest tighter , Iruka muttered "I have to get up there. I'm not stopping until I do. I don't care how long it takes me." as he continued to stumble up the mountain.

Iruka could hardly breath. He was in no shape before his injury to climb the tall mountain, but now the injury on his chest was sending sharp pains all over his upper body making it hard to breath. Looking up he sighed when he saw the dragon's lair. "After all this, I hope that he's in there. And he better be happy." muttered Iruka, holding a hand up to his chest as he tried to get his breathing under control. Once reaching the ledge, he stumbled over to the cave, grabbed the side of the entrance as he tried to brace himself so that he wouldn't collapse. Looking inside he could see the back of the dragon curled up asleep.

"Ka….Kakashi" stuttered Iruka, before going into a another coughing fit.

Kakashi hearing someone, lifted his head and looked over at the entrance of the cave. Seeing a shadow standing over by the entrance, he narrowed his eyes trying to get a better look. Kakashi gasped in surprise when he realized who was there. "Iruka?"

Iruka muttered "Hey" as he lifted his hand, but couldn't say anything else as he tried to stop the coughing. Finally overcome by the pain and coughing, Iruka collapsed onto his knees as he grabbed his chest as the pain shot through him with each cough.

Seeing something was wrong with the young man, Kakashi stood up and rushed to his side as fast as he could when he heard Iruka start to cough, lowering his head down to his level and asked "Iruka, are your alright? What happened?"

Looking up at the big dragon, Iruka chuckled "I got into a fight with a tree branch, and unfortunately for me it won." but whimpered when the vibration sent even more pain throughout his upper body.

Worried by how much Iruka was coughing, Kakashi looked at the young man and said "Don't move, I'm going to change into my human form so I can take a better look at it." stepping back a little as he pictured his human form and transformed. Reaching over to a little stream of water running across the rocky floor, Kakashi cupped some in his hand as he rushed back over to the tan man's side "Here drink this." lifting his hand up to the tan man's mouth. Iruka leaned forward and took a sip of the cold water, feeling it sooth his throat.

"Thank you" replied Iruka, his voice sounding rough from all the coughing.

"Your welcome. I need to take your shirt off and lie down so I can take a better look at your chest. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine." replied Iruka, shuttering when he felt the long fingers touch his skin. Kakashi looked down at the tan man with a questionable look. "I'm sorry. It's just that in the past….um, yeah never mind." stuttered Iruka, then took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Kakashi didn't say anything as he moved his hands slowly down to the edge of the shirt and pulled it up over Iruka's head, trying not to irritate the injury more than he had to. Once completely removed, Kakashi threw the shirt off to the side. "Alright, lie down." said Kakashi. Iruka not arguing did as the pale man had asked. Looking down at the tan chest, Kakashi noticed the bruise running from one side to the other. Watching the tan chest rise and fall, Kakashi became mesmerized by the beautiful, soft golden skin. Without thinking he moved his hand forward and ran his hand along the bruise. "His skin is so soft and beautiful. I wonder what it would taste like running my tongue along that caramel colored skin. What kind of sounds would he make?" Iruka watched as Kakashi stared intently at his chest, a blush growing on his cheeks as he watched Kakashi run his hand along his chest, wondering what he could be thinking so deeply about.

"Kakashi?" asked Iruka. He had never had someone to touch him before with such gentleness. Whenever someone had touched him before, it was always associated with pain.

Shaking his head, Kakashi started to blush when he realized that he had been caught staring. Clearing his throat, he said "Um, does it hurt when I touch it?"

"Um, a little." blushed Iruka

Pushing down gently on the tan chest, Kakashi muttered "It doesn't look like anything is broke. You may have a couple bruised ribs and your chest is pretty bruised. You will be sore for awhile, but nothing to serious." still embarrassed with being caught.

"Oh, um….alright" whispered Iruka, looking off to the side.

Seeing that look on the tan face was not helping Kakashi's control any. He had never felt like this before. It was taking everything that he had to hold back and not take the young man now. "I need to get some distance between us before I do something that I will regret later." thought Kakashi. Finally getting the nerve up, Kakashi slid his hands underneath the tan man and lifted Iruka up to carry him to the back of the cave. "Hey, what are you doing?" protested Iruka

"Taking you to the back so that you can rest. I don't want you moving around much for awhile." replied Kakashi as he carried the light man to the back. "And to create some distance between us until I calm back down." he thought.Slowly he kneeled down and laid Iruka on the ground, a small groan escaping between Iruka's lips. "That's not helping me any." thought Kakashi "Are you alright?"

"Nnn, yeah." groaned Iruka

Looking down at the tan man, Kakashi diverted his eyes as he started to remember about earlier events. Not making eye contact, Kakashi said "Iruka, I'm sorry."

Confused, Iruka looked at the pale man before he replied "About what?"

"Not telling you that I was a dragon. I should have told you the truth." replied Kakashi

"Kakashi, even though you didn't tell me you were a dragon to begin with, I've realized now why you didn't. You knew that I would run away. The truth is when I did find out, I was scared. But the more I thought about it, the more lonely I became. In the village I had come to terms with myself that I would always be alone, but now…" started Iruka

"Now?' asked Kakashi, holding his breath as he listened to what Iruka said.

"Now I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't care that you're a dragon. You are the first being that has ever showed me kindness and treated me as a human. I had kids that were younger than me back at the orphanage that I called friends, but we never were aloud to talk or play together. They made sure they kept us separated." continued Iruka as he looked up at Kakashi. "I want to know what it's like to care about someone, and have them care about me in return. To have someone that I can trust. I don't want to run away anymore."

"You don't know how happy I am to here that. I have waited for the day to hear someone say that again. I'm not as young as I used to be, and I've been lonely for so long. I also want to know what it's like to have someone to care about again."

"Hey I'm not that young either." pouted Iruka, as he started to cross his arms but stopped when he felt the pain in his chest. "Ouch"

Chuckling, Kakashi asked "how old are you?"

"I'm going to be 18 in three weeks." sulked Iruka

Laughing outright at the young man, Kakashi replied "If only I were that young again."

Looking up at the other man as he laughed, Iruka thought "That's the first time I've heard him laugh. He has such a beautiful laugh." But realizing what the pale man had said, Iruka asked "Wait, how old are you?"

Still chuckling, Kakashi asked "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes, please tell me." replied Iruka

"I'm 1,236 years old." said Kakashi, watching the tan face, waiting for the younger mans reaction.

Iruka knew his mouth was wide open from the shock. He could feel his chin touching his neck. "How…You…No…How can you possibly be that old?" yelled Iruka still in shock from what the dragon told him. "In your human form, you don't look more than 30. I mean your hair is gray, but still."

Looking at the young man, Kakashi smiled as he replied "Dragons can live to be pretty old. And as for my human form, this is how I've always looked." as he started to pout. "And for my hair it's silver not gray."

Iruka now chuckling, said "Sorry, silver." before turning more serious "Are there more dragons?" but regretted the question when he noticed the look of sadness go across the pale face.

"Ye…Yes, but I was disowned and never allowed to return." mumbled Kakashi, a tear running down his cheek as he looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked such a personal question, but I would be happy to be your friend." replied Iruka, as he reached up and wiped the tear away.

Looking up and staring into the chocolate eyes, Kakashi genuinely smiled for the first time in hundreds of years, "I would be happy also to be your friend, but are you willing to accept the risks that come with being my friend?"

"What do you mean risks?" asked Iruka, confusion written all over his face.

"Well you met the biggest one earlier." replied Kakashi

"You mean that griffin? I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but he's not going to stop me from being your friend. Besides from what Gai said, it was him that had started it." growled Iruka

Quirking an eyebrow at the man's reactions, Kakashi sighed "What exactly did Gai tell you?"

"Not much, that is was the griffin that had started everything." replied Iruka

"I see" said Kakashi, not really wanting to talk about this right now. He had just got Iruka back, and he wasn't going to run him off again. Looking into the chocolate eyes, he noticed Iruka struggling to keep his eyes open. "You should rest." as he started to stand up, but was stopped when an hand grabbed his arm.

Noticing how the pale man changed the subject, Iruka didn't say anything as he said "Please stay." as he yawned.

Giving the tan man a small smile, Kakashi replied "I'm not going anywhere, just over there." as he pointed to the spot on the opposite side of the cave.

"Hm, stay over here." mumbled Iruka as he started to fall asleep. Exhaustion finally overtaking his body. His hand still holding tightly onto the pale arm.

Reaching up with the other hand, Kakashi ran his hand over the brown hair as he replied "I'll stay" as he moved to lay down beside the tan man wondering if this was a good idea as they both fell into a deep sleep.

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Thank you for reading. Please review and let me hear from you.

Peanut